


His Royal Highness Noctis Lucis Caelum's Even Shittier Roadtrip

by vanitaslaughing



Series: "If the next one's a flesh-eating ghoul again, I'll end the monarchy myself"—Cor Leonis, M.E.756 [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Gen, Ghouls, Immortality, Road Trips, an egregious amount of ghouls actually., its the shitty cryptid roadtrip... 2!, lots of ghouls.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 16:34:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18480100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanitaslaughing/pseuds/vanitaslaughing
Summary: In a world that doesn't know daemons or war but that definitely knows magic, Noctis and his retainers set out on his coming of age ceremony much like his father before him. Once again, it's a list he has to run down with his best friends and one reluctant companion.It usually leads them to ghouls and ancient swords. Thanks for the ghouls, King Regis!And the last item on that list is, again, an immortal in the forest.





	His Royal Highness Noctis Lucis Caelum's Even Shittier Roadtrip

**Author's Note:**

> i almost accidentally posted this as part of darkest before dawn. yknow. the series thats about the setting of tu fui, ego eris.
> 
> anyway with hesperus over i guess i might as well chew away on something whimsical on the side while i mostly work on tu fui and grant thine soul repose; and this one just so happens the most... established thing i have on the backburner rn.

He had known something would be up the moment that his father called for him as they made ready to depart. Maybe his beloved old man had heard him complain about it yesterday, maybe this was divine retribution for his birth, but Noctis turned around on the steps either way.

“What now,” he grumbled, his friends further down the stairs stopping as well.

He saw a very disgruntled-looking Marshal stand next to his father. On the other side was Clarus, a more than amused grin on the man’s face. Noctis had a feeling what this would be about. Still, he put on the sweetest smile he could manage—and according to everyone else his sweet smiles could _kill—_ and innocently blinked his eyes.

“If this is about what we packed, we got everything stashed in the arsenal. Ignis checked thrice,” Noctis said matter-of-factly and noticed that Cor’s already grim expression got grimmer. Yep. His father definitely was going to push a bodyguard onto them; though if stories were to be believed Grandfather Mors had done the same with Cid Sophiar.

Still, Noctis hated the fact that he was likely going to get babysat. None of them needed it.

Regis also smiled; apparently killer smiles ran in the family. “Oh no, I trust young Ignis to cover everything. I had only realised that perhaps it would be best if you took someone who knows the road with you.”

“And who do you have in mind?”

Cor buried his face in his hands—a rare show of emotion as the grin on Regis’ face got wider.

“Marshal Leonis. He ought to re-experience this trip and perhaps learn from his teenage self’s mistakes.”

* * *

All things considered it could have gone a lot worse. Cor was a reliable fighter and almost obscenely quiet for the first leg of the journey; the only time he cracked and showed something other than stalwart protector was when they reached Hammerhead and talked to Cid. Ignis had raised an eyebrow when he exited the store with an arm full of potions and the like—all bought because Cor told them this was not going to be a nice pleasant trip. Noctis grabbed his advisor’s free arm and pulled him aside.

“You don’t think we’re really gonna get eaten by a ghoul or something, are you?”

Ignis closed eyes with a sigh. “Lest we forget, he was younger than we were when he followed His Majesty onto this trip. Perhaps he is merely exaggerating based on previous misconceptions due to being a teenager. His Majesty did say something about learning from his past self’s mistakes. Therefore, I doubt that we will get eaten by a ghoul—but we might get chewed on by one.”

“I don’t want to get chewed on in front of the Marshal!”

“Then perhaps you ought to use your personal funds to buy a squeaky chewing toy meant for dogs.”

Cor had asked for the list itself earlier. The man was furiously going over it, shaking his head occasionally. Cid meanwhile seemed amused; the bit of conversation that Noctis had heard earlier meant that his father had made some changes to list.

“Specs,” Noctis began, but Ignis shut him up by leaning in.

“Noct, there’s nothing to worry about. You’ll do fine. It’ll be fine. We’ll be back home before you know it, and then we can pretend this entire trip never happened. The Marshal’s likely messing with us on orders from your father.”

He had never heard of Cor messing around on anyone’s orders. Cor Leonis was the single most terrifyingly calm and stoic person alive, and there was something deeply unsettling about this entire situation—he refused to believe that Cor would be messing with them on orders. Hells, sometimes he wondered if Cor could even understand a joke.

Ignis smiled.

Noctis nodded. Best not to stress the issue. He could see that Ignis, too, was rather concerned about this mess.

* * *

The royal arms, okay. Getting those had been a given to begin with, and Noctis enjoyed going into these tombs. Accounting for some hiccups along the way, like one of the weapons getting dragged into an ancient Solheim ruin and some others being in nearly inaccessible places, that front was mostly unexciting all things considered. He just needed to pick these weapons up and they would vanish in a shower of crystalline light. A spectacle at first, but by the time he picked up the fifth it had since lost its charm.

The more amusing, more terrifying, more annoying yet entertaining part of the journey were the places that his father had noted down with only locations and a short explanation of what to expect. The first one had been a sentient swam of fireflies that had laughed at them as they passed. The second had been a flesh-eating ghoul as Noctis had feared but they had managed to drive it off and even saved the reporter it had been harassing. The poor guy looked rather shaken, said that he had only been looking for a mineral outcrop nearby and not having been aware of accidentally crossing into the ghoul’s hunting grounds.

The third was a mermaid that hadn’t been on the list; Noctis had apologised profusely after she had gotten her fin tangled in his rod. She’d been rather nice about it, all things considered; the freshwater mermaids in general seemed rather relaxed compared to the saltwater ones that Noctis knew lived around the peninsula Insomnia had been built on. Those were vicious and the reason why Gladio had a scar like that.

The fourth was a ghoul again.

There were a lot of ghouls.

At some point Noctis had grabbed his phone after yet another ghoul encounter and texted a group—Gladio, Prompto and Ignis all snorted at the camp when they read his question, whereas his childhood friend Lunafreya and her normally utterly silent older brother Ravus replied with utter confusion. No, Ravus eventually wrote after a minute or so passed, Tenebrae was not infested by ghouls. But also there weren’t any overly fair folk in the woods. Besides, Lunafreya added, wasn’t it rather rude to call another living being a nuisance? Ghouls though they may be, they still had the right to live in peace. Lucis was wide and perhaps that was why there were so many ghouls.

Ravus only added that he was going to ask the fairies and elves and sylphs and what not. His traitor friends all laughed when they looked at their phones—Noctis meanwhile could see the sarcastic grin Ravus would have shot him as he said that.

After a hilarious encounter with a bunch of non-malevolent ghouls somewhere in Duscae, Cor cracked.

He had never seen the Marshal _make_ that sort of exhausted annoyed expression.

“Your Highness. The next point. Please. I beg of you. Is it more _fucking_ ghouls?” He completely ignored the fact that Prompto was staring at him with his mouth wide open. Ignis had even dropped his spoon into the stew. “What on earth have you _done_ to your father that he’s sending you on a ghoul business trip?”

“Something ghastly, I reckon,” Gladio said from his chair, not even looking up from the book.

Noctis blinked a few times and reached for the list instead of trying to make sense of this situation. Prompto continued staring, and Ignis was frowning at his stew, likely trying to figure out how to get the spoon out without using another utensil or his hands.

The paper crinkled just as the fire crackled and Noctis unfolded the list slowly.

 

~~_Enjoying the ghouls, Noct?_ ~~

_Next step: Taelpar Crag—immortal warrior._

_Bring Cor. Royal order._

_Signed: HRM Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII_

 

That was suitably ominous, he thought as he folded the paper back together and looked at his gathered bunch of party members. Gladio was still reading this shitty romance flick his sister had gotten him with a huge idiotic smile on his face. Prompto had gone back to messing with his camera, still looking rather pale as he did so. Cor was pinching the bridge of his nose and muttering something to himself.

Ignis, his dearest and most beloved Ignis, who always acted prim and proper and like he had a stick up his ass in public, had shoved his hand into the stew to remove the spoon.

Was that roadtrip finally getting to them? Lucis was fantastic. They all enjoyed it, they enjoyed mingling with the people whenever they reached a town or a village. The country itself was gorgeous, and despite the fact that his father definitely had sent them on a ghoul business trip they saw a lot of the local flora and fauna. They interacted with many creatures on a daily basis as they went towards their next ghoul destination or towards the next royal arm.

But seeing Ignis Scientia, the man who even sounded like he was reciting the law when he was trying to flirt with his boyfriend, shove a hand into a stew was… new. Just as new as Cor Leonis all but flopping down to cross his legs was.

“Uh. Taelpar Crag, it says here,” Noctis said, his gaze still locked onto the pot. He watched as Ignis removed his hand from it and realised that Ignis had turned his own hand into an icicle to keep the skin from burning off. He had grabbed a towel from the arsenal and was cleaning his stew hand now.

Noctis heard a crash, and finally turned to look at Cor. The man was sprawled on the rocky ground of the haven, his eyes closed and a resigned expression on his face. “Is there a chance His Majesty has _not_ made me coming along a royal order?”

“Nope, you’re not getting out of this one. Royal order. Signed and all that jazz.”

A heavy, heavy sigh that even made Gladio look up from his book. Prompto and Ignis also turned to look at the man who lay there as if someone had clubbed him unconscious.

“That,” Ignis said calmly and put the towel aside, “sounds rather drastic. Is there something you’ve not told us about?”

“No. The king merely is a bloodhound.”

* * *

Of course as it turned out there was something. Locals had said that normally people who entered there would have to fight their way through until a certain point, but the moment they stepped into the place the atmosphere had shifted. Cor groaned slightly, but even the allegedly normally howling voices were quiet as they descended through the caves.

After a while Noctis realised that the locals hadn’t gone mad, no—and surely enough, when they reached the very bottom of the caves, a most imposing figure stood there. Gladio had heard of this place before, he had said at some point; Taelpar Crag was famous for its life-threatening challenges that only the strongest warriors survived. He had been rather disappointed that they hadn’t had to fight their way through, obviously. Ignis on the other hand had even turned his face to the skies and thanked the Six that they didn’t have to deal with this right now.

But right now, the imposing figure stood there perfectly still, a sword drawn despite them having their back to Noctis and his group.

Then the figure started shaking.

It took Noctis a moment to parse what the hell was going on, but the second Cor, who had had summoned his sword, banished said sword back into the Armiger, he understood.

The creature locals called the Blademaster was _laughing._

“I had not thought that I would be seeing you again, young man. Though you are not as young as I remember.”

Cor drew a hand across his face. “Yeah. I suppose. Look, I’m sorry. I was a dumb kid, and as far as it looked from my position, you were going to hurt the prince of the country I serve.“

It was rather obvious that Cor had not expected the Blademaster to turn around and take off his mask. Neither had any of them assumed that the Blademaster who was known for being an almost ruthless warrior would be a… man who could pass for Gladio’s grandfather.

“I do have to admit, it was nice that this incident brought the ever elusive others back to my humble abode for once to help me sew the arm back on. Alas, I should have learned from past experience that the youngest ones are generally the most formidable ones.” The man rolled his eyes, an amused smile still on his face as he turned to look at Noctis. “And you must be King Regis’ son, then?”

Noctis nodded. “Noctis Lucis Caelum, sir.”

“Good to meet you, then, Prince Noctis.”

“Yeah, pleasure’s all mine… you know Cor?”

Cor raised his hands. “No. We’re not doing this, Prince Noctis. Was nice seeing that you got your arm sown back on, Blademaster, but we’re leaving. Move it, Highness.”

Noctis heard the echo of roaring laughter as Cor herded them back towards the entrance. Hundreds of voices joined in as they ascended.

* * *

“I swear to the heavens, one more ghoul nest and I’ll make certain your father gets eaten by mermaids!”

“Marshal, that would be considered regicide and would warrant a death penalty.”

“It’s safe to claim that at this point getting executed for regicide would be more preferable than yet another ghoul nest!”

“Is there a particular reason for why you are so averse to them? They are a nuisance at best.”

“Just wait till you meet the kind of ghoul that possesses trees and people, Ignis. Just wait.”

* * *

According to Cor, his father and Clarus had tackled this one on their own. Which, of course, meant that Ignis had immediately moved into Noctis’ personal space with a furious expression on his face—followed by Gladio and Prompto also moving in closer.

Somehow, the forest did not seem like it needed four protectors for one prince. It was… gorgeous. Untouched, full of flowers, and very much alive as they soon realised. There was a constant rustling in the bushes, a constant breeze that went through the treetops, and the smell of the nearby sea was a nice finishing touch to this scenery. It was… quaint. Not something one would expect to find in Lucis, where ghouls and other creatures ran rampant.

After a while however, Ignis stopped. Sharply stopped.

He never did that unless something was extremely wrong. Noctis felt an uncertain amount of dread as he stopped as well.

“Everything okay?”

“No. I just felt something brush my shoulders. I am the rear guard. But there is nothing there.”

Noctis raised an eyebrow and looked at his boyfriend. Ignis had been on edge during the latter leg of the journey, mostly due to the fact that he wasn’t used to constantly being around other people. The other reason was that just once Cor had managed to find them kissing beside the Regalia. If there was one thing about Ignis, then it was the fact that he hated the attention and they had been keeping the relationship a secret anyway. The cat was out of the bag. And to _Cor Leonis_ of all people.

Regardless, Noctis couldn’t write this off as Ignis being unusually jumpy. As if to underline that fact, Prompto let out a yelp.

“Something just pulled on my clothes!”

As they continued, the strange happenings also did. Something messed with Gladio’s hair. Cor’s sword seemingly moved on its own and dropped to the ground. Noctis swore he heard a giggle in that very same moment, but before he could look around, Gladio and Ignis had started nearly smothering him.

“Gah, guys. Personal space.”

“We’re your Shield and your advisor, princess, fat chance. Whatever it is, till we know whether its intent is malicious or no, we’re gonna cuddle.”

For a long moment it was quiet, then they heard a sigh that even put Cor’s normal sighs whenever they ran into ghouls to shame. The five of them looked around, with Gladio raising his shield and Ignis summoning a dagger to hold as he wrapped his free arm around Noctis. Prompto, too, summoned one of his guns into his hands.

Then something moved. Without even thinking, Ignis and Gladio threw their weapons and a shot rang through the forest.

They watched as a man collapsed forwards out of the bushes; Gladio’s broadsword had missed him but the dagger was stuck in his shoulder and there was a bullet hole on his chest. The greyish white clothing made it rather easy to see.

The next thing they heard were two voices at the same time—one was shrieking, and the other was… laughing? Before they could even ask _who_ was speaking, the faint outline of a woman crouched next to the collapsed man appeared. She was furiously patting the man’s deathly pale face urgently.

“Ardyn. Ardyn, come on. Open your damned eyes, you oaf, I know you’re awake!”

“Ahaha,” the second voice said, the speaker it belonged to still nowhere to be seen. But it definitely came from above. “Goodness, how many generations has it been since he last took a weapon to the gut? Seven?”

The woman stopped patting the collapsed man in white and turned her head slightly. “Aelia Lucis Caelum was….”

Ignis answered automatically without thinking twice. “The 102nd Queen of Lucis, Aelia Lucis Caelum. Her predecessor was her father Flav—“

“Ah. Twelve generations, then,” the male voice whose owner they still hadn’t seen yet interrupted quickly. “Either way, impressive. Must be a new record.”

The woman scowled. “You ought have passed better manners down the bloodline rather than anything else, Somnus. I still remember watching your great-great-great granddaughter Iovita try taking off his head!”

“Hey! It’s not like I personally appear in their dreams to tell them to be as rude as possible and possibly maul the brother I refused to kill at the behest of the gods! Tonitrus, Iovita, Aelia, Flavius, Vitus and the rest made these decisions by themselves.”

Before the woman could bite back, the man on the ground coughed. Ignis’ grip on Noctis fastened, Prompto whined and hurried behind the shield, and Gladio only let out a confused grunt. Cor drew his sword.

“Goodness,” the man coughed and sat up, brushing strands of red hair out of his face, “could you two _please_ stop arguing for _once_ during my wretched existence as something undying? _Please?_ Just _once?_ Not a single soul here cares about which one of your descendants has or has not tried to or actually taken a chunk of my body out of me, Somnus. You know as well as I do that just as you are unable to pass on, dear brother, I am unable to die altogether.” The man scowled at the blood on his clothes and then looked up. “At least it doesn’t seem like the prince attacked me this time around.”

* * *

T hey had eventually settled on following the man and the two spirits to his ‘humble abode’. It looked like it could have belonged to one of the several witches they had met on their travels so far; but something about it rubbed Noctis off wrong somehow. Maybe it was the state of decay, or the fact that there was an allegedly immortal man living in this forest all by himself with only ghosts to haunt his every waking hour—ghosts that very animatedly discussed the properties of descendants’ sins and how their predecessors were involved. Time and time again they dropped their names; Noctis knew by now that the woman was called Aera, the man Somnus and the immortal Ardyn. He had definitely heard these names before, but he couldn’t quite remember where. Ignis, too, frowned at the tea that Ardyn served them after a few minutes. That was his thinking face, the expression he wore whenever something bothered him but he hadn’t yet figured out how to address the issue.

“It has certainly been a while since a Lucis Caelum came in here with more than their Shield,” Ardyn said with an almost fond smile on his face as he looked at the group at his comically large table. Noctis noticed that this table had been cleaved in half at least once. “I assume you would be the Amicitia, then?”

Gladio nodded. “Yes. Gladiolus Amicitia, sir.”

The immortal nodded as well, then looked around. “It is rather simple to guess who the Lucis Caelum is, but would you do me the honour of introducing the rest of your merry band regardless, Gladiolus?”

“Right, right,” Gladio said and then put a hand on Noctis’ shoulder. “His Royal Highness Noctis Lucis Caelum.”

A soft gasp from Aera. Whatever was going on here, Ardyn silenced her with a wave of his hand and a mutter of “Later, Aera”.

Gladio then gestured towards Ignis and Prompto. “Guy in the glasses, Ignis Scientia. Blondie, Prompto Argentum.” The looked at Cor for a moment before adding “Marshal Cor Leonis”.

That name got a reaction out of all three of them. Somnus, a man in royal black who quite enjoyed floating about with his legs and arms crossed, suddenly snapped his eyes open and glared at Cor. Aera on the other hand covered her mouth as she looked at the Marshal. Ardyn meanwhile raised an eyebrow before letting out a snort.

“Yes, merry band indeed. Though I had assumed that the very man who tore off dear Gilgamesh’s arm all those years ago would not be running the same trip another time.”

“It’s not the same trip,” Cor snarled. “I would rather come face to face with another Adamantoise than see another ghoul in my life.”

“Better a ghoul nest in your wine cellar than a Daemon for a spouse,” Somnus almost sung.

Noctis and Ignis both raised their heads in perfect synch as they understood.

“Somnus Lucis Caelum, the Founder King!”

“Uh, yeah. How many dead people named Somnus do _you_ know? Not too many, I presume. It is a horribly archaic name and the process of turning into a ghost is less than pleasant,” the man said almost nonchalantly and shrugged. “Anyway. Somnus Lucis Caelum, one of the joint Kings of Lucis as he refused the Bladekeeper’s Revelation. First one to set a border. Helped cleanse our Star of its Scourge. Dead during his prime, left wife and child, terrible tragedy, yadda yadda. That’s me. Pleasure.”

Aera smacked the back of his head. “Gods preserve me—“

“They’ve already done that.”

“Ugh! Anyway. Aera Mirus Fleuret. History buff, though that kind of got lost over time. First Oracle. Engaged to the Healer King of Lucis. Helped cleanse our Star of its Scourge. Dead during her prime, left fiancé and family, terrible tragedy, yadda yadda.” She even copied Somnus’ tone towards the end, and Ardyn let out a long, horribly strangled groan as the two of them started hissing at each other.

“I do, very sincerely so, apologise, Prince Noctis.” Honestly, Noctis was enjoying the show, but still he nodded at Ardyn as he rubbed his temples. “Ardyn Lucis Caelum, the Healer King.” A short pause—even Aera and Somnus stopped to stare at the red-haired man. “No, I will not say the same. I refuse.”

Ignis almost immediately pounced on the opportunity to talk to ancient people. He had always enjoyed talking to witches and cursecasters, to the fair folk and the not so fair folk—hells, he had even chatted up a harpy once. It was just another endearing thing about Ignis, his constant thirst for knowledge. Prompto, too, joined in on that conversation as they made Ardyn talk about the beginnings of Lucis, about the way the Scourge had worked, about Daemons and darkness. All things that this world no longer knew thanks to the three of them and the Blademaster. Of course they would be interested in all of this. Gladio, too, joined in at some point.

Noctis and Cor meanwhile inspected the house from where they sat. It definitely looked well-lived in. But it also looked as if it was one stiff breeze from falling apart; heavy layers of ivy almost completely covering the stone or wood it was built from. It was hard to tell from here. One of the windows had shattered, and Noctis shuddered as he looked around the clearing.

This place was… lonely.

When the conversation came to a halt, he almost wanted to address that, but Somnus was faster. The man leaned down from where he hovered, his arms crossed and a displeased expression on his face.

“So. Cor Leonis, was it?”

“Yes?”

The atmosphere changed ever so slightly, from something whimsical to something mildly threatening. “You are the one who took an arm off my captain, are you not?”

Cor shifted. “And what if I am, Your Majesty?”

Noctis feared that they would be leaving with Cor. There was absolutely nothing they could do against a supernatural being legitimately attacking; and if even the slightest bit of royal magic still answered to this bodyless entity, then there was nothing they could do. Cor would explode on the spot. Cor would lose his head.

“I have to applaud you. Not many managed getting a hit in on him, even fewer managed defeating him. Taking an arm off—impressive. Especially considering that at the same age he was all but grinding my face in the dirt.”

* * *

Eventually they all stood up and walked around. Ignis was completely engrossed in a discussion with Aera, Gladio and Prompto were discussing the flowers that grew here, Cor and Somnus had started talking about battle strategies of all things.

Which left Noctis with Ardyn.

There was still something about the man that struck him as odd. Two thousand years he had lived in this place, ever since the second King of Lucis took over. His nephew, as Noctis had now learned—which made Ardyn his very, very distant uncle. His exasperation had eventually faded and the man seemingly enjoyed the company for once; even his ghostly companions eased up on the endless bickering eventually and even started agreeing with each other after about an hour.

Noctis was only 20 compared to Ardyn’s over 2,000. But even just the thought of remaining here and waiting until inevitably Noctis’ possible children would arrive here for the rest of eternity sounded godawful. There was even a chance that one day they would stop coming because the Lucis Caelum bloodline had ended. They wouldn’t know until too much time passed. The three of them would remain here until the very end of time with nothing but the sea breeze and the forest around them.

He cleared his throat to catch Ardyn’s attention. The man looked up, an inquisitive look on his face despite not saying a thing.

“Hey, uhm. Your Majesty?”

“Please, just Ardyn is enough, Prince Noctis.”

He wrung his hands a little. “Ardyn, then.”  Maybe suggesting this was extremely silly. “I’m just… wondering. You’ve been here since the second king took over, yeah? That’s… a long time. All on your own?”

Ardyn closed his eyes. “I am not on my own. I have my brother and my fiancé to keep me company.”

Noctis bit his lips. “Yeah, about that. Looks to me like… I dunno. You’ve noticed too, haven’t you? They’ve… stopped arguing. The way you’ve talked to them so far is makes it sound like they’re constantly about to strangle each other. But just before we all split into groups, they were… agreeing with each other. Looked more like the childhood friends turned in-laws they’re supposed to be. And Lord Gilgamesh had all these… fellow sword-nuts and constant visitors.”

“Your point, Prince Noctis?”

“Are you… are you sure the three of you aren’t just lonely in here all locked away from humanity?”

The man paused. He seemed legitimately at a loss for words as he looked over to where Somnus and Aera had apparently started retelling the story of how the Bladekeeper had reluctantly accepted their defiance but gotten them in the end by requiring two of four to stay by the Crystal as it started cleansing the Scourge in earnest. Noctis definitely heard a story of blinding light burning all in its path, including their very bodies—a fate that they couldn’t let their beloved teacher and their beloved fiancé suffer from, hence their choice to remain as First Oracle and Founder King.

He folded his hands, a strangely distant look on his face as he watched his brother and his fiancé dramatically retell this story. Hells, the way he looked he hadn’t seen either of them so animated in… an eternity.

“You’re a strange bunch, you recent Lucis Caelums. Your father decried this place as ‘the middle of bumfuck nowhere’ and pointed an accusatory finger at me before we parted. Your grandfather wondered if seclusion was truly the way to go. It is much different than from back when it had merely been a young man curious about his grandfather. But you… have a point, Prince Noctis. Where Gilgamesh continues somewhat interacting with the people of these days in his strange ancient custom way, we… remain the same. Every so often we see a new face for a few hours, learn perhaps a bit more about the country we once founded with our hands joint as if we were children dancing through the wheat fields once again… but we remain.”

Noctis scratched the back of his head.

Oh, the others would kill him for this. His father would flay him alive. Clarus would probably eat his eyeballs.  He could already hear the constant complaining from Prompto and Gladio, could see Ignis stare at him with disdain mixed together with this incredibly sappy look of admiration. Could see Cor drag his fingernails across a blackboard for this.

But still, Noctis dared grabbing the man’s hands.

“Why don’t you come back to Lucis with us, then? You needn’t stay if you’re still worried about the not being affected by time or physical injury thing. But you’re a Lucis Caelum just as much as I am, Ardyn. I don’t want to leave family in a forest all by themselves where they’ve got nothing but the ghosts of their loved ones with them.” He grinned, then became aware of how silly this must have looked. He let go of the man’s hands and scratched the back of his head. “The car would get really cramped, though. We’ve already got Cor squished in there with us… all thanks to dad. Well I mean, the Founder King and the First Oracle won’t be needing a seat, but—“

A laugh. It was surprisingly soft. Ardyn reached forward to put a hand on Noctis’ face.

“To think that you look so much like Somnus when we were younger, yet you managed to retain the selfsame softness until your current age… that is exactly what we strove for. But you are the first Lucis Caelum to offer a complete stranger a place at your castle. Do you do this often, Prince Noctis?”

“Castle…? Oh yeah, the Citadel. Nah. I don’t go around picking up people, but I do kinda want to make sure everyone’s got a place to live when I become king. That does include you, Your Majesty. You’re family. So you belong into the Citadel. Uhm… only if you and the other two wanna, of course.”

“Perhaps we ought to discuss that with the people in question, mhm?”

Noctis turned to look at his group and Ardyn’s companions. Aera shoved Somnus; Somnus laughed and ruffled her hair; Ignis was actually taking notes on this entire story; Prompto was taking photos; Gladio was nodding to something that Cor was telling him.

If they agreed, it would make for a very interesting last leg of the journey.

Ardyn nodded at him, and Noctis raised his voice.

“Hey, guys? Can you come here for a sec?”

* * *

The car broke down.

Of course the car broke down.

They needed to wait for Cindy to arrive here to get them back to Hammerhead, but it was late and thus they had moved to a haven. She would be arriving in two days, and until then Noctis decided to tackle a rumour he had heard in the last settlement where they had stopped to get a change of clothes for Ardyn.

“If tomorrow is yet another ghoul nest, I swear to the gods themselves Noctis, I will orphan you with my own bare hands.”

A snort from above the campfire. “If I may be so bold—what  _is_ it with you and ghouls anyway?”

Cor whirled around and faced the Founder King with fury blazing in his eyes. But the Marshal said nothing.

Noctis was sincerely starting to believe that it must have been something rather embarrassing; otherwise his father would not be sending them into ghoul territory after ghoul territory. Ardyn, too, hummed in agreement when he whispered that into the group.

“It most certainly looks like the same aversion to Chocobos that my darling brother developed at around age nine following a particularly embarrassing incident that left him in his smallclothes sobbing as the birds ran off.”

Ignis groaned. “I suppose we have your father to blame for this. It must be linked to the trip they took before.”

They weren’t going to get the answer out of Cor anyway, seeing as the Healer King walked over, silenced the Founder King with a wave of his hand and put the other hand on the Marshal’s shoulder. Surprisingly enough, that made Cor simmer down.

This journey really was getting to them all.

Noctis leaned against Ignis and ignored the click of the camera as Prompto took a picture of that. This trip had been a mess, really, and the last leg was terrible now that they had somehow managed to stuff six people into the car, but he understood why his father insisted on it. Lucis was a fun country. There were so many things. So many people. Each and every single haunted forest was yet another wonder waiting to be seen. Every single ghoul nest told a different story of what had happened in this country since 2,000 years ago the Founder King, the Healer King, the First Oracle and the Blademaster had decided to take a stand against a prophecy that would have set their roles in stone and banished the darkness together.

He wanted to preserve that. He wanted to hand the country to the next generation in just as good a state as he would be receiving it from his father in.  He wanted the people to live in a country that was just as wonderful as the people who had founded it had wanted it to be.

And even if the three of them left Insomnia soon after, they would at least know that they were always welcome in the city they had helped build.

**Author's Note:**

> the ghouls will be explained. maybe. place your bets now on Why Cor Leonis Has A Grudge.
> 
> twitter @cleignewheat


End file.
